Water lilies are an important religious symbol in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. They symbolize resurrection in both spiritual arenas because many of the lilies close their flowers at night and reopen in the morning at first sunlight. Buddhists regard the water lily as a symbol of enlightenment because of the beautiful bloom that emerges from the mud. They also consider the water lily a symbol of purity, spontaneous generation and divine birth.

I just came back from a very inspiring time in the Swiss Alps. The alpine Flora was really awesome. Such a variety of plants flowering at the same time. The alpine summer is short and the plants have to be so tough to survive up there. Some members of the buttercup family I found even at 3000 meters. The images here show Aconitum napellus, the Monkshood which is one of our most powerful plants in homeopathy and Ranunculus glacialis, the glacier crowfoot. She is the highest ascending plant in the Alps, flowering at over 4000 m.